“Man, I didn’t do nothing,” students often said to me when I spoke with them about their behavior. “My point exactly,” I replied. “If you didn’t do nothing, you must have done something.” It was after ...

In the early 1970s mathematician Donald Knuth spent a sabbatical with his wife in Norway. The time was meant to be spent relaxing. Yet one night he woke up his partner in a state of agitation. He ...

Explore the fascinating history of negative numbers from ancient times to Renaissance acceptance, highlighted in BBC Radio 4's program. Don't miss** BBC Radio 4's In Our Time program on Negative ...

The ancient scholar Hippasus of Metapontum was punished with death for his discovery of irrational numbers—or at least that’s the legend. What actually happened in the fifth century B.C.E. is far from ...